Mining in Hong Kong refers to

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...

activities in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

. Despite its small size, Hong Kong has a relatively large number of mineral deposits. Although some have been mined commercially, there are currently no commercial mining operations in Hong Kong.

CEDD Cedd ( la, Cedda, Ceddus; 620 – 26 October 664) was an Anglo-Saxon monk and bishop from the Kingdom of Northumbria. He was an evangelist of the Middle Angles and East Saxons in England and a significant participant in the Synod of Whitby, ...

Economic Geology - Minerals and Mining in Hong Kong
/ref>

Mines

The four main mines in Hong Kong are the

Lin Ma Hang Lin Ma Hang () is a village in the Sha Tau Kok area of Hong Kong and is situated north of the New Territories, next to the Shenzhen river, east of Heung Yuen Wai and west of Hung Fa Leng. Administration Lin Ma Hang is a recognized village unde ...

Lead Mine (mainly galena for lead), the Needle Hill Tungsten Mine (Wolframite and Molybdenite), the

Ma On Shan Iron Mine The Ma On Shan Iron Mine () is a mine in the hills of Ma On Shan, Sha Tin District, Hong Kong, that was operated from 1906 to 1976. The nearby Ma On Shan Village accommodated the miners and their families. History The Ma On Shan Iron Mine opened ...

(magnetite for iron), and the West Brother Graphite Mine (graphite). Historical mines in Hong Kong include: (The figures indicate the length of the tunnels) *

0.9 km

Catalogue of Hong Kong Tunnels
/ref> * Needle Hill 3.4 km *

Lin Fa Shan Lin Fa Shan ( Chinese: 蓮花山) is the seventh highest mountain in Hong Kong. With a height of 766 m on Lantau Island, it is situated between Mui Wo and Sunset Peak. Name The Cantonese name Lin Fa Shan ( Chinese: 蓮花山; Jyutping: ...

2.3 km (

Lantau Island Lantau Island (also Lantao Island, Lan Tao) is the largest island in Hong Kong, located West of Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, and is part of the New Territories. Administratively, most of Lantau Island is part of the Islands ...

) *

Ma On Shan Ma On Shan may refer to: * Ma On Shan (peak) ( zh, t=馬鞍山, s=马鞍山, l=saddle peak, links=no), a mountain in the New Territories of Hong Kong * Ma On Shan (town), a New Town in the New Territories on the foot of Ma On Shan mountain * Ma On ...

23.5 km * West Brother Island extensive *

Sha Lo Wan Sha Lo Wan () is a bay in the northwest Lantau Island, Hong Kong. The bay faces north to Hong Kong International Airport. The area is occupied by indigenous inhabitants. There is no vehicular access to the area and thus their communication is o ...

Mines 0.3 km (Lantau Island) *

Mui Wo Mui Wo is a rural town on the eastern coast of Lantau Island in Hong Kong. The 2011 Census recorded 5,485 people living in Mui Wo and its environs. Mui Wo is located on Silvermine Bay, so named for the silver mines that were once worked along ...

(Silver Mine Bay) (Lantau Island)

Types of mining

Iron

The largest iron deposit is found at Ma On Shan, where the

was in operation from 1906 to 1976.

Lead

Lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, ...

was firstly discovered around 1860s in

. The first mining company was formed in 1917 and operated for only three years. A 75-year mining lease was issued in 1925. The mine ownership changed in 1932 and again in 1937. At that time, 2.1 kilometres of tunnels had been developed and this was extended by the new owner, but all work was suspended in 1940 due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Small-scale mining was carried out by the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

from 1941-1945, mostly by robbing pillars in the eastern section of the mine, which caused a

cave-in A cave-in is a collapse of a geologic formation, mine or structure which may occur during mining, tunneling, or steep-walled excavation such as trenching. Geologic structures prone to spontaneous cave-ins include alvar, tsingy and other limes ...

. Afterwards, the mine remained abandoned until 1951 when various contractors resumed activities.

Labor unrest A labour revolt or worker's uprising is a period of civil unrest characterised by strong labour militancy and strike activity. The history of labour revolts often provides the historical basis for many advocates of Marxism, communism, socialism ...

, strikes, typhoon damage and falling lead price led to the closure of the mine on 30 June 1958 with about 60% of reserves remaining. The mining lease expired in April 1962.

Silver

, on

Lantau island Lantau Island (also Lantao Island, Lan Tao) is the largest island in Hong Kong, located West of Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, and is part of the New Territories. Administratively, most of Lantau Island is part of the Islands ...

, is located on Silvermine Bay, so named for the

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

mines that were once worked along the Silver River which flows through the village. The nearby Silvermine Cave was mined for galena, a mineral which is mostly lead but contains small amounts of silver, during the second half of the 19th century.

Tungsten

Tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isol ...

deposits were first discovered in 1935 at Needle Hill. A mining license was issued in the same year and the mining development started in 1938 and continued through the Japanese occupation period. Mining activities increased during the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

when the price of tungsten rose sharply. By 1967, the tungsten price had declined and the labor cost had risen, prompting the suspension of the mining operation. Tungsten was discovered in

, and its ore was quarried in the area in the 1950s, leading to a population increase, which reached 4,000 in 1971. The population has dropped again since the 1970s.Brief Information on Proposed Grade III Items. Item #1151

Legal aspects

Under the Mining Ordinance Chapter 285, power to grant mining and prospecting licences is vested in the Commissioner of Mines who is, as of 2020, the Director of Civil Engineering and Development.

Quarries

Old Quarry Site Structures, Lei Yue Mun 04

Current and former quarries in Hong Kong include: *

Anderson Road Quarry Anderson or Andersson may refer to: Companies * Anderson (Carriage), a company that manufactured automobiles from 1907 to 1910 * Anderson Electric, an early 20th-century electric car * Anderson Greenwood, an industrial manufacturer * Anderson ...

* Four hills of Kowloon, historically the site of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

quarries in

Kwun Tong District Kwun Tong is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong. It is located in Kowloon, and is the easternmost and southernmost district in Kowloon. It had a population of 648,541 in 2016. The district has the second highest population in Hong Kong, af ...

* Lamma Quarry * Quarry Hill *

Shek O Shek O is an area of the south-eastern part of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. It can refers to Shek O village or Shek O Peninsula or Shek O Headland. Administratively, they are part of Southern District. Geography The name "Shek O" literal ...

Quarry * Turret Hill Quarry, exploited from the mid-1960s to 1984